Most of my favorite handles are maple. You need to dye it, however, to bring out the pattern that makes this wood so wonderful. It's not soft, but does need oil (I recommend Tru-Oil, which is basically linseed oil) to protect it. CA works, too, but I like oil on non-oily woods better. On extremely oily woods like cocobolo or bocote, the Tru-Oil won't dry...it stays tacky, and as such, is unusable.